Louis DiLorenzo To Co-Present in November 19th Webinar on Employee Free Choice Act
November 19, 2008
What is the Employee Free Choice Act and How Will It Affect Me and My Company?
Enactment of the Employee Free Choice Act ("EFCA") is certain to be at the top of the legislative agenda for President-Elect Obama and the new Congress. The EFCA will have a profound impact on the law of labor management relations in the U.S. by: (1) substituting union authorization cards for secret ballot elections as the most common method to certify unions as the exclusive bargaining representatives of employees; (2) establishing strict bargaining deadlines and interest arbitration (imposed contracts) on employers and unions bargaining an initial collective bargaining agreement; and (3) significantly increasing the NLRB's power to seek injunctive relief, requiring a multiple of back-pay damages to employees found to have been unlawfully discriminated against, and imposing civil penalties of up to $20,000 for each willful or repeated violation of the law.
The EFCA will result in a new paradigm for union organizing and collective bargaining. Employers must begin now to change their strategies for and responses to union organizing. The information presented during the webinar will help you understand how the new paradigm will work, how unions may approach negotiations for that all-important first contract, and why interest arbitration for a first contract will make the practical and legal landscape unrecognizable.
To help you and your colleagues prepare for the anticipated impact of EFCA, we invite you to join us on Wednesday, November 19, 2008 at 8:30 a.m. for a free Webinar, sponsored by the Employment Law Alliance -- the largest alliance of management-side labor and employment lawyers in the world. Presenters include seasoned labor lawyers from law firms affiliated with the ELA who are deemed labor and employment experts in their respective regions of the country.
Two similar 60-minute presentations will be offered, one beginning at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time and the other beginning at 8:30 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. Both sets of presenters will:
- Provide an overview of the EFCA's expected provisions
- Highlight the changes the EFCA is anticipated to have on current law
- Discuss the impact that similar legislation has had in Canada
- Recommend why non-union companies need to prepare now and
- Review actions that your organization should consider taking in anticipation of the new law.
The presenters will also discuss those industries that are most vulnerable to the effects of the EFCA.
The moderator for both sessions will be Jeffrey A. Walker, Butler, Snow, O'Mara, Stevens & Cannada, PLLC, Jackson, Mississippi.
Presenters for the East Coast Webinar, 8:30-9:30 a.m. EST include:
- Richard J. Charney, Ogilvy Renault LLP, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Louis P. DiLorenzo, Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC, Syracuse, New York
- Charles S. Einsiedler, Jr., Pierce Atwood LLP, Portsmouth, New Hampshire
- Patrick J. McCarthy, Day Pitney LLP, Florham Park, New Jersey
- Rosalee McNamara, Lathrop & Gage L.C., Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas
